Album Review

After exiting Kiss and pursuing a solo career in the late '80s, guitarist Ace Frehley launched numerous tours in support of his subsequent solo releases. Fans have received various tastes of solo Frehley live sets (1988's Live + 1 EP and Live + 4 home video), but never a true, full-length live album. In 2006, longtime Frehley fans finally got their wish, as his former label, Megaforce, assembled Greatest Hits Live. Consisting of ten live tracks and two previously unreleased studio tracks, quite a few Kiss-era tracks are featured, including fine readings of "Rip It Out," "Cold Gin," "Rocket Ride," "Deuce," and "New York Groove," as well as a taster of his '80s solo work, including the autobiographical anthem "Rock Soldiers." And closing out the album are the two studio tracks, "One Plus One" and "Give It to Me Anyway" — comparable to the melodic metal sound/approach of Frehley's 1987 solo release, Frehley's Comet. But in all honesty, the studio tracks should have remained on the cutting room floor and been replaced with additional live performances.

Biography

Born: 27 April 1951 in New York, NY [The Bronx]

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

Along with Eddie Van Halen, Kiss' Ace Frehley inspired numerous up-and-coming rockers to pick up the guitar in the 1970s — and come the '90s, he was listed by just about every contemporary rock guitarist (Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Pantera's Dimebag Darrell, etc.) as an important influence. Born Paul Frehley on April 27, 1951, in the Bronx, New York, Frehley began playing guitar when he received an electric six-string for his 14th birthday in 1965. Already a big fan...